A Check of Reality

Dear Reader,

Today I walked through my hallway that goes into the kitchen and stepped in something gooshy. My first thought was, "Dear God, please don't let this be a bodily fluid...human, feline or canine!" You know that when that is the first thought to pop in your head it's time for a check of reality. I went to dinner tonight with a dear friend. After having been seated for over 10 minutes, I still could not decide what I wanted to eat for dinner, but I knew what wine I would be having with my undecided dinner choice; again a sign giving need for a check of reality. By the way, I had lemon cake for dinner and a salad for dessert with 2 glasses of Pinot Grigio...it was heavenly and yes, you are not misreading...I had dessert first tonight :).

What is a check of reality and when do we know we need one? Well, a check of reality in our house is always long in coming, but one always comes; normally just before ultimate mental breakdown on my part (or after I find grey hair 401!). The thing with being a mother is that it totally changes your chemistry which changes your endurance level. I can definitely endure more stress now than I ever expected before. Little things throughout the day that threaten to push me off the cliff of "somewhat-stable" don't seem as gianormous as they did. Like the other day when I stepped outside with the dog for a breathe of afternoon fresh fall air and I am coming back up the stairs and am greeted by Dominic's grouchy face. He says in a disgusted tone, "Minka threw my clothes on the roof!" "What?" I asked. All the while thinking in my head, "How the hell could the cat throw your clothes on the roof?" Then in a split second I imagined Minka the cat growing a hand at the end of her tail which promptly picked up Dominic's clothes and threw them directly out the window. My life can at times parallel that of Alley McBeal.

I went into Dominic's room and proceeded to fish off the roof with a hanger a T-shirt and shorts that my son had slept in the previous night and a pair of underwear. So apparently the cat had ignored the proverb that advises us to not air our dirty laundry out of the upstairs' window. I don't know if the cat really did push the clothing out the window or if Dominic did it and blamed it on the cat and I didn't ask. Some things a mother does not need to know...although I surmise! When Dominic saw that his clothes had been recovered he was amazed, apparently he thought his items were goners. He said, "Mom you are the best mom with a hanger ever!" Funny thing is I felt honored at his compliment. Ummm, can we say check of reality...I had just spent the last few moments fishing my son's dirty underwear off our roof and suddenly I felt like the best mom on the planet! Something is slightly distorted here in the world of Laura Araujo.

My dear friend called on Tuesday and when I asked her how she was she confessed that she was in her pantry with the door closed, hiding from her toddler during an elongated game of King of the Castle looking for something to eat. Anyone who is a mom or was a mom can laugh heartily at this image because over the years the image has been consistent, only the character in the image changes...to us! Another friend of mine has a good story of her youngest. He can literally talk the legs off a horse (usually the saying is "hind legs", but I am pretty confident that he could take off all four in a matter of minutes) and she had just had it. She went to the bathroom and closed and locked the door looking for just a moment of solace which would help ward off the urge to give her child to the next person who walked down the street. She sat down on the closed toilet seat and put her head in her hands. Then she heard, "mommy?" come through the bathroom door. "I'm in the bathroom honey," she said. "Oh that's okay mommy," he said, "I can just sit right here and talk to you."

I had no idea how many changes would take place when I became a mom. Some of them have been easier to adjust to than others; eg: I still miss sleeping naked on hot summer nights and I have to remind myself to hide my ice cream at the back of the freezer so I don't have to share. I have watched more Scooby Doo movies than I ever thought possible and I love watching people's expressions at the laundry mat when I begin pulling out the "treasures" from Dom's jean pockets. Hahahaha. But the biggest lesson I have learned in my short time of motherhood is that change must start in me before it touches Dominic. A check of reality starts in my heart and overflows to him and my ability to stay as far towards peace as possible is what determines our day. Sometimes my check of reality starts with whatever pie is sitting on the kitchen table as it is assaulted with a fork and sometimes it begins with a full nights' sleep, but the important thing is that it starts. Reader, please remember that you can provide not only a change of mood for the household, but also a change of day if you can find a check of reality. Most of the time peace comes when perception is corrected.

Laura Araujo